August 2003, Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh... What the heck is in Pittsburgh?? Well the OMP, of course.

This year started out the same as the others. People started showing up on Thursday and taking over the hotel. This year we had the best hotel by far. The lobby was not near the rooms, and we were allowed into the conference room early. Thursday was a relatively mild evening. The only bad, well, odd thing about Pittsburgh is that you can't just go to a packy (liquor store) or grocery store to buy beer. You must get it from a distributor. Now how weird is that? Skinless found out where to go and saved us all.

On Friday a small group headed to Kennywood. It was a small, family styled park, but lots of fun. A few of us watched a certain Admin and his wife on Aero 360, and we swear we could hear him scream. Friday night was another night of food, drinking and game playing. Seems this year’s big game of the weekend was Phase 10. Other games on the table that weekend were Fluxx, Settlers of Catan, Articulate, Cranium, Carcassonne, Munchkin, and of course, UNO.

Saturday morning, wow! So hung over, and so many people hung over. But what a big breakfast! Thanks again to the admin for getting us those breakfast buffet tickets. (Tensor & Rastafan take a bow.) Anyways, it was a quite kind of morning, mainly just eating, talking, and trying to wake up.

Dog Punting has returned! Yup, it was back, you missed it. That was another great thing about Pittsburgh: we had a decent sized parking lot to get this off the ground this year. Such fun!

After Punting we went right into the UNO Tourney. Others decided to join in on other games, while a few groups decided to hit the movies and lunch.

On Saturday, at 5pm, The OMP has begun.

Like OMPs in the past all mudders were kicked out of the room to allow us to set things up. Once the doors opened, we had people piling in left and right. This year the registration table had a few new faces on it (or at least people doing new jobs). You were greeted by Pistil and Tensor, given a "Thingie" by Vryce, a ticket or two by Sorcha, your photo snapped by Stalin, and then it was off to see Rastafan & Nanook to buy a t-shirt.

Once everyone was herded through the registration process (which took a full hour), food arrived. Pizza! And *gasp* soda! (Pop for you Michigan people.) And no, no one got lost in this venture. There were also other munchies including gummy bears, chips and dip (shh, don't be calling Vraal that), and even a birthday cake for Fiona (Happy Birthday!). Oh yes, we can't forget those Goodberries (Hugs and Kisses) from the priests.

Once the pizza was gone and everyone was full, Tensor laid down the law of the Scavenger Hunt! He gave out the rules, the cameras, and the lists. Then the teams dispersed. Those of us who did not go on the Hunt sat around talking and gaming. Rastafan and his group were playing Phase 10, another group was playing Fluxx, another was playing Settlers, and I'm sure there were more out there.

The Hunt is over, and the winners have been awarded the points given out. Now is what everyone has been waiting for: the raffle. There were so many door prizes this year, everyone left with something. And yes, the Admission Marbles were raffled off again. How could we break that sacred tradition?

It was an extremely long OMP this year. I think we finally wrapped it all up around 12:30/1am. Once it was all done, people went back to their rooms or outside to smoke, and a few stayed in the lobby.

Pictures:

Special thanks to all of the players and wizards who worked hard to make this a success. Some people have continued to contribute even after the event by posting their party pictures for online viewing: